to suppose that in either houses or streets the ancient Jerusalem differed very materially from the
modern. No doubt the ancient city did not exhibit that air of mouldering dilapidation which is now
so prominent there. The whole of the slopes south of the Haram area (the ancient Ophel), and the
modern Zion, and the west side of the valley of Jehoshaphat, presents the appearance of gigantic
mounds of rubbish. In this point at least the ancient city stood in favorable contrast with the modern,
but in many others the resemblance must have been strong. Annals of the city.—If, as is possible,
Salem is the same with Jerusalem, the first mention of Jerusalem is in (Genesis 14:18) about B.C.
- It is next mentioned in (Joshua 10:1) B.C. 1451. The first siege appears to have taken place
almost immediately after the death of Joshua—cir. 1400 B.C. Judah and Simeon “fought against
it and took it, and smote it with the edge of the sword, and set the city on fire.” (Judges 1:8) In the
fifteen centuries which elapsed between this siege and the siege and destruction of the city by
Titus, A.D. 70, the city was besieged no fewer than seventeen times; twice it was razed to the
ground, on two other occasions its walls were levelled. In this respect it stands without a parallel
in any city, ancient or modern. David captured the city B.C. 1046, and made it his capital, fortified
and enlarged it. Solomon adorned the city with beautiful buildings, including the temple, but made
no additions to its walls. The city was taken by the Philistines and Arabians in the reign of Jehoram,
B.C. 886, and by the Israelites in the reign of Amaziah, B.C. 826. It was thrice taken by
Nebuchadnezzar, in the years B.C. 607, 597 and 586, in the last of which it was utterly destroyed.
Its restoration commenced under Cyrus, B.C. 538, and was completed under Artaxerxes I., who
issued commissions for this purpose to Ezra, B.C. 457, and Nehemiah, B.C. 445. In B.C. 332 it
was captured by Alexander the Great. Under the Ptolemies and the Seleucidae the town was
prosperous, until Antiochus Epiphanes sacked it, B.C. 170. In consequence of his tyranny, the
Jews rose under the Maccabees, and Jerusalem became again independent, and retained its position
until its capture by the Romans under Pompey, B.C. 63. The temple was subsequently plundered
by Crassus, B.C. 545, and the city by the Parthians, B.C. 40. Herod took up his residence there as
soon as he was appointed sovereign, and restored the temple with great magnificence. On the
death of Herod it became the residence of the Roman procurators, who occupied the fortress of
Antonia. The greatest siege that it sustained, however, was at the hands of the Romans under Titus,
when it held out nearly five months, and when the town was completely destroyed, A.D. 70.
Hadrian restored it as a Roman colony, A.D. 135, and among other buildings erected a temple of
Jupiter Capitolinus on the site of the temple. He gave to it the name of AElia Capitolina, thus
combining his own family name with that of the Capitoline Jupiter. The emperor Constantine
established the Christian character by the erection of a church on the supposed site of the holy
sepulchre, A.D. 336. Justinian added several churches and hospitals about A.D. 532. It was taken
by the Persians under Chosroes II in A.D. 614. The dominion of the Christians in the holy city
was now rapidly drawing to a close. In A.D. 637 the patriarch Sophronius surrendered to the khalif
Omar in person. With the fall of the Abassides the holy city passed into the hands of the Fatimite
dynasty, under whom the sufferings of the Christians in Jerusalem reached their height. About the
year 1084 it was bestowed upon Ortok, chief of a Turkman horde. It was taken by the Crusaders
in 1099, and for eighty-eight years Jerusalem remained in the hand of the Christians. in 1187 it
was retaken by Saladin after a siege of several weeks. In 1277 Jerusalem was nominally annexed
to the kingdom of Sicily. In 1517 it passed under the sway of the Ottoman sultan Selim I., whose
successor Suliman built the present walls of the city in 1542. Mohammed Aly, the pasha of Egypt,
took possession of it in 1832; and in 1840, after the bombardment of Acre, it was again restored